Repercussions
by kodkodkittie
Summary: "He knew the only explanation for both phenomena. 'Akito' He hissed" please R&R Possible character death in store. haven't quite figured it all out. Chapter 7 up!
1. The Request

**A/N I do not own Fruits Basket!**

Chapter 1. The Request

"What" the emerald eye stared at the girl in disbelief. He must have misheard, she couldn't ask him that. He couldn't grant that. Anything but that. She meant too much to them. To that person.

"Please Hatori-san, if you would" her eyes looked so sad, so anguished, like there was something silently trying to tear her apart from the inside out. "I mean, if it isn't too much trouble, please erase my memories" her large brown eyes stared pleadingly into his.

The dragon looked down at the onigiri with a mixture of confusion and pity. She was always so lighthearted, so carefree. What could have caused this? "I'm very sorry Honda-san, but I can't erase memories without the express request of Akito-sama." It was a lie. However he couldn't, he just couldn't bring himself to do what she was asking of him. It would not be him that destroyed all their lives like that. He would never be able to look into those chocolate eyes again if he did this thing she was asking from him. However, Tohru didn't question the refusal.

"I understand Hatori-san," she said, looking down at the tatami mat she was kneeling on, her golden hair hiding her face. Hatori studied the girl for a moment. There was something off about her today. Her usually neat hair was mussed and her clothes, blood stained, looked as though they had been hastily donned. He realized after a few moment's careful observation that the girl in front of him was crying. He kneeled down next to her and gently pealed the bandage from her face. She flinched as he gently traced his thin finger down one of the deep scratches in her cheek.

"Tohru," Hatori said kindly, trying to take off the bloodied blouse she was wearing "Is everything ok?" She looked up and pulled away from his grip, plastering a fake smile on her face without a moment's hesitation.

"Of course!" she said in a falsely cheery voice getting up quickly, and turning to pick up her bag. "I must get back, dinner doesn't make itself!" Tear tracks still lined her dirty face, but she didn't seem to notice. She made a bow, obviously as deep as she could and Hatori noticed that the girl's shirt was sticking to her back. "Gomen suminasai" she said as she hurried out of the doctor's small apartment.

The dragon stood up and paced pensively. Tohru was acting weird and had odd scars, and possibly even new wounds. He knew the only explanation for both phenomena.

"Akito" He hissed to himself.

**A/N; DUN DUN DUUUUHH**

**Translations - **

**gomen suminasai - im sorry, excuse me (literally) - more like, i am sorry for bothering you**


	2. Effects

I dont own Fruits basket!

Chapter 2 - effects

The smile fooled everyone. She knew it would. It always had, no one ever looked that closely at her. She went home, changed into long loose clothing, made dinner, and sat at the table with the three juunishi she lived with, not daring to look at anyone in the eye in case he could read the hazel mask she had created. Orange eyes glared into violet as the two continued the fight they started before they sat down to their meal. Shigure sighed as Kyo flew through the back door for the third time that month. Tohru watched Yuki nonchalantly throw the cat out of the house, feeling a sudden constriction on her breathing. She sighed quietly to herself and looked down at her plate. Pushing the food around without eating anything. Her appetite had gone down since the patriarch had called her to him the previous week.

"_How could you think he would ever love such a worthless creature like you?" Akito hissed as he circled her, dark eyes glinting maliciously as the girl lay weeping on the tatami mat by the patriarch's feet. She was doubled up so only her bare back showed, a back that was crisscrossed scarlet from the whip in the god's hand. "He is mine, they are all mine" black pitiless eyes stared down at the sobbing creature on the ground. Revulsion welled up inside the kimono-clad figure. The creature needed to be gone. It was taking away all his favorite play toys. "Do you really think anyone will love you after what you let me do to you?" he asked looking proudly at the bruises covered her arms and upper thighs the pearly liquid running thick down her legs, he was proud of his work. He bent down and grabbed her by the throat. "Worthless," he spat, throwing her to the ground again. "You just take up room, not only would they not notice, but they would be glad if you disappeared"_

The end of their "chat" kept running through the girl's mind. She felt like she was just going through the motions, not really caring. She got up and went to the sink, she put the leftovers – along with her own uneaten portion – of their dinner in containers in the fridge. As she started washing dishes she didn't even notice her own tears mix with the warm water from the tap. "_They would be glad if you died"_ she started drying dishes and putting them away Akito's words ringing in her ears, oblivious to the fact that the three Sohmas were still at the table, Kyo having had gotten up from where he was thrown. _"Worthless". _Tohru had accepted what he said without a second thought, especially after he had broken her. That was it, Akito had what he wanted, she was broken. She took a knife from the knife block and held it experimentally against her wrist, her back still facing the table.

"Tohru-kun?" a tan hand took the wrist holding the knife just before it was about to slice her pale flesh. She looked around, orange eyes bored into own hazel, which were still watery from tears. She grabbed the knife with her other hand, attempting to try the other side, but Kyo held that arm at bay also. "Rat" he said, asking the nezumi for help without another word. Yuki however, was already halfway up, and grabbed the knife from her

"Honda-san?" he said concern in his violet eyes. "Why would you do this? What's wrong?" a river flowed from the girls eyes. "Tell me! What is going on?" He said as Kyo held her hands behind her back. A memory from the beginning of that day in the black room came back to her, back when she really thought he just wanted to 'chat'. _"if you tell anyone about what happens here today, not only will it prove to me that you are nothing but scum and don't belong with the family, but also I will just have to see you again, in a way that will make this one look romantic and gentle." He smirked, "Oh, and don't forget the punishment I give to the one who knows." _

She let out a small cry that tore at Kyo's heart before collapsing onto the ground sobbing silently. "Shigure!" Kyo called, distressed, from his position on the floor behind her, where he was still holding her arms. The dog came running out of his study, picked her up gently like a child, and carried her up the stairs.

"Hatori is on his way," He said sternly to the sobbing girl. "Something's wrong, stop trying to pretend that you are ok when you obviously aren't." He set the still silently crying girl down on her large bed and took his leave. "Please, let us help you." He murmured on his way out. He then closed the door on the girl and asked Yuki, who was coming out of his own room to keep watch. Shigure hated having to be the mean one, but in this case it was for her own good.

There was no noise when Shigure closed the door to Tohru's room. He guessed that she was still sobbing silently. Kyo had taken up Tohru's place at the sink when Hatori arrived. "What happened?" The dragon asked, without preamble.

Shigure went into the story "She got up to do dishes in the middle of dinner, and then Kyo noticed she had a knife poised against her wrist. He stopped her just before she did any damage. There wasn't really a fight, but I picked her up and carried her to her room. I guess she finally went to sleep, she needed it, she is getting very thin." Hatori's emerald eyes looked up at the ceiling worried.

"I need to see her right away" Hatori said, making his way to the staircase. There was a thump from upstairs and they both ran upstairs. Hatori found Yuki keeping guard by the door and pushed it open.

Tohru was lying on the floor with an empty bottle of nail polish remover next to her, legs bent under her as if she had fallen suddenly, arms spread wide, her face, however looked peaceful and she was very clearly unconscious, her breathing heavy and labored. "Yuki!" the rat looked over from where he still stood outside the door amethyst eyes confused at the intensity in his cousin's voice. "Get my bag, now!" Yuki glanced down at the girl as he quickly turned and ran down the stairs.

Hatori started the laborious work of trying to get the girl to reject the poisonous substance she had consumed. Yuki returned, black bag in hand, and tried to help the dragon. "lay her flat," Hatori said, reaching into his bag and grabbing a long tube. He gently coaxed it down the girl's throat with practiced movements and managed to get it down to her stomach. Soon the harmful liquid was out of her body and he removed the tube before she started to choke on it. "Help me get her on to her bed" he said to the young man at his patient's feet. The two of them lifted her and carefully placed her on the queen-sized bed Shigure had got for her when she moved in. "She should be ok," he said to Kyo and Shigure who were in the doorway, and Yuki by the bed. "I will need to give her a work up now that she is going to make it, I am more worried about her mental health than anything else at the moment." While he was talking Kyo had moved to the head of her bed, stroking her soft hair.

"What could have prompted her to act like this so suddenly?" Yuki asked from the foot of the bed, where he had sat down.

"I don't think it was all that sudden" the dragon replied. "I think there is something much deeper behind this. This afternoon she asked me to erase her memories of the family." Three pairs of eyes flicked from the sleeping girl to the dragon. Kyo made a growling sound in the back of his throat, and went back to staring at her, as though by looking at her, she would get better. "I am going to have to ask you three to leave now, I need to examine her." The rat went to the door where Shigure was. The cat, however, didn't move. "Kyo, I need you to leave now" Hatori said again, putting his hand on the young man's shoulder. "I promise you can come back in when I am done" he reassured the young man steering him out of the room.

As soon as the door was closed Hatori took the chair from the Tohru's desk and sank onto it. He sighed deeply, what did Akito do to this girl that could cause her to do this? He wondered as he carefully removed her large tee shirt and rolled her on her side. He gasped. She had whip marks worse than Yuki's, deep and everywhere, most looked about a week old, others, however looked fresh. Some of them even went through the waistband of the sweatpants she was wearing.. He removed that as well and saw dark bruises on her thighs that matched the ones he had found on her arms and neck. Well, that explained why she had been wearing longer skirts and long-sleeved turtlenecks recently. He was going to examine her properly when she woke up. He was determined of that, for if the sadistic patriarch did what Hatori thought, then this girl would need a lot more than bandages.

He gently treated the wounds on her back and rolled her back over, gingerly bringing the covers from underneath her slim body and covering her with them. He was about to leave the room when he decided to check for any other substances or objects that the unstable girl could possibly do damage to herself with. He quietly looked around, emerald eyes scanning his surroundings carefully. He took the nude nail polish from in her closet, along with the scissors in her drawer. He decided that the rest of her sewing must be in the other room, so he wouldn't worry about that just yet. He looked around for medication of any kind she may have around her room. When he couldn't find anything else, he opened the door to find three anxious looking people in the doorway.

Kyo was at her side in a second. "Why would she do this?" asked Yuki again from the doorframe, staring at her sleeping figure.

"Did Tohru go anywhere unusual in the past few weeks? Do you remember a time when she was either gone too long, or she went somewhere she doesn't normally go?" Hatori asked, trying to usher the other two men into the living room. They both shook their heads.

"Yes" the answer came from in the room. Kyo sat in the chair vacated by the dragon, staring sadly at the girl.

"What do you mean 'Yes'?" Yuki asked angrily, grabbing the cat by the collar of his shirt. "Where were we? And how come we didn't know?"

Kyo didn't rise to the rat's attack, even after he had been pulled out of his chair. He quietly walked downstairs, not wanting to wake Tohru if they started to fight. The other three followed him, Yuki looked tenderly at the onigiri before closing the door behind him on his way out.

When the four juunishi were all sitting around the table Kyo started. "Last week sometime, I think it was Wednesday, anyway, Shigure, you were out with Aaya, and Yuki, you were doing some student council thing. Tohru and I came home together, and she asked me what I wanted for dinner, then she left to go shopping. Well, I don't know how long it was before she came back, but Yuki, you were back, I think you were in your base when she returned. I was on the roof. It must have been 3 or 4 hours. She had the shopping with her, so I didn't think much of it at the time, I guessed she had just met up with a friend or something and lost track of time. But, the answer is 'yes', Hatori. She was gone for far too long. And then, that night, though she made dinner, she didn't join us. She just took a bath and went to bed. Again, I thought she had met a friend and had eaten out but now…."

Shigure and Yuki were staring at Kyo shocked, for this was the first either of them had heard of this. Hatori was pensively looking out the torn door, having gotten up sometime during the explanation. "I think she has seen Akito." The dragon said after a tense minute of silence.

"WHAAT?" the other three looked shocked and appalled. They all knew very well what Akito could do to a person. Yuki looked slightly sick. "why would she go there?" Yuki asked, pale face turning slightly green.

"I'm sorry," Hatori said, sitting back down at the short square table. "I should amend my previous statement, I mean I think she was taken to see Akito. Twice." Kyo got up and leaned against the wall looking furious, Shigure's face was impassive, but Yuki sagged in exhaustion. "She has scars on her back which look like they were made by a whip, they are numerous and deep, she also has bruises on her arms, throat and upper thighs. If I had to guess, she was raped. She also has some fresh whip marks and blood stains on her back that suggest that she has been there today too. Which probably caused her to break completely."

The sound of breaking plaster ended Hatori's clinical description as Kyo punched a hole in the wall. "I am going to kill that bastard!" the cat said, obviously outraged.

"Stop it Baka, Neko, " Yuki spat the last word, "If anyone is going to kill him, its going to be me." He said getting up as well.

"Why the hell would a filthy RAT have more of a priority than me!" Kyo yelled straight in the face the violet-eyed teen

"I –" Yuki didn't get a chance to finish his sentence because Hatori had gotten up and was pressing the pressure points on the necks of both of the boys in an attempt to get them to settle down. The two collapsed and nearly fainted, but Hatori had used enormous self control in dominating the young men, and had only applied enough pressure to make their heart rate decrease so they could calm down.

"While I don't disagree that he may deserve it, no one is confronting Akito about anything, as of yet" Hatori said firmly. Seeing their puzzled and angry faces he explained. "Unless I am very much mistaken, Akito has threatened Tohru that if she tells anyone what he did to her then there will be major repercussions for her, or the person she tells, or possibly both. We have to be sure if he raped her or not. Either way, we need to get her intense psychological care." the dragon looked at his watch. "She should be awake now." Kyo ran up the stairs into Tohru's room.

"HATORI!" The cat yelled from where he stood in her bedroom. He was staring at a nearly completely naked Tohru, she had obviously just gotten out from under the covers, lying unconscious on her carpet with a sewing needle in her limp left hand and blood gushing from words gouged deep up both forearms. "WORTHLESS"

**A/N Hopefully this chapter makes up for the pitiful chapter before this... sorry about that btw. **

**Please read and review!**

**Translations**

**Baka- Idiot**

**Neko - cat**

**Nezumi - rat**


	3. Psycological Trauma

**A/N - i dont own fruits basket (I wish...)**

Chapter 3 - Psychological Trauma

"_Akito?" Tohru asked, looking at the rooster in disbelief. "Why would he need to see me?" She was on her way home from shopping for dinner that night. The sun said that it was about 4:30, she would have to start dinner soon. _

"_He didn't say." He had said face emotionless, "Get in." She had complied; it was the first time that Akito had ever asked to see her. And since he had sent the rooster directly to her, it must be something important, she had reasoned to herself. _

"_Akito?" She called as she wandered around the rooms designated to the god. "Akito?" she said again, in a small voice, not knowing what was coming next. She walked slowly into the deepest room in the chamber. It was black, and Tohru squinted into the room, trying to see. As soon as she crossed the threshold she heard the sliding door behind her close with a sharp _'slap'_ and she started as the only light filtering into the room was immediately extinguished. An evil sounding chuckle came from where the girl had just entered. She swallowed, steeling herself. "How can I help you, Akito?" She asked bowing, trying not to show any trace of fear upon her features._

"_You really are a stupid girl," the patriarch sneered. Tohru looked surprised and a dim lamp kindled into life, illuminating her shocked expression. Tohru saw a leer on Akito's face as he approached her. "Why is it that MY juunishi love you such a worthless, stupid girl, when they have me? They should love me! Yet, they love a worthless thing like you." He circled her, picking at the collar of her blouse. He approached her from behind, hissing in her ear. "When I am done with you, NO ONE will love you anymore. They will all see just how worthless you really are." Tohru shuttered, she turned and tried to leave, tears coursing down her cheeks. "Leaving so soon my filthy pet?" he asked her catching her arm and digging in with his sharp nails. "Do you think I would let you walk in and steal my family? Did you think there wouldn't be any consequences?" He took a rope from beside the door and tied her wrists tightly in front of her after first taking off her shirt and undershirt. He took her small body and threw her roughly onto a hard futon on the ground. He pushed her onto her stomach and unzipped her skirt and removed it. "We can't let anyone know what happens here." He said, grabbing a handful of hair with one hand. "I can't let my pets get worked up over a worthless thing like you" _

_He yanked down her underwear and tossed her back onto the bed, completely naked, her back to the futon she was lying on. He took her tied hands and tied them to the low windowsill behind her so that she was raised off the ground a few inches . "Well now," he said sadistically, "Maybe they have a point after all you really are quite lovely." He traced a long nail down her stomach, drawing blood. Her face was filled with fear. He gripped her cheek with sharp nails, pulling her up by her tear stained face. "Especially when you are crying. You know, fear turns me on" he smiled down at her mercilessly, and knelt beside her, pushing her shoulders down to the window sill. He gripped her hips and pulled them towards his opening them and licking her wet opening maliciously. Then he forced himself into her as roughly as he possibly could. She screamed with all her might and he just laughed. "No one will save you, beast," he said with ice in his eyes. "It doesn't matter how much noise you make." She sobbed, her head turned away from where the patriarch was violating her body. "You are only turning me on more, worthless whore" he said, thrusting in and out harder and faster than before. He laughed maniacally at the tears falling silently down her cheeks. _

_He pulled out of her and tossed her hips back down to the mat below her. "Worthless" he spat again, disgusted. He straightened his kimono, which had opened crudely when he used himself to brutalize the girl. She tried to get up but he laughed and pushed her back down. "Do you think I would let you off that easily?" he asked, a demonic grin marring his beautiful Sohma features. He reached up and took from the rafters a rope with a hook connected at the end. He untied the girl from the window sill and attached the fastening to the rope tying her hands together. He went to the wall and started to rotate a crank. The slack in the rope lessened until it pulled the now whimpering girl to her feet. Akito continued to pull, until her toes were just barely off the ground. _

_He looked at the petite girl, arms stretching her body long and thin with gravity. He looked at the face that made so many members of his family turn from him and slapped it contemptuously, his long nails drawing blood from four long cuts down her cheek. Tohru's form turned slowly on the spot with Akito circling her in the opposite direction. He grabbed his whip as he made his first circuit around the girl. On the second he paused, lazily reaching out one hand to stop her rotating. "Learn your lesson, worthless bitch!" he screamed as he raised the whip and brought it down on her raised back. He whipped her over and over until the exertion of the undertaking made his weak lungs stop him. He coughed, hacking and wheezing, collapsing onto the ground until his breath was finally restored in full measure. With a flick of a lever the girl collapsed onto the ground, prone and unmoving. With a knife from inside the sleeve of his kimono he cut the bonds on her writs. _

"_How could you think he could love someone like you?" Akito sneered at the girl, was still in the position he left her. Akito knew everything. This is one fact that she needed to be clear of. "He is mine, they all are mine!" This was something that didn't seem to be clear to her. "Worthless." He repeated._

There was a scream from Tohru's room, and all four Sohma men sprinted into her room. Kyo was there first and by the time Hatori, Shigure, and Yuki got there the cat was pressing the girl into the bed where she had been placed the night before. She was clearly struggling against the redhead with all her might. Her free legs and arms were battling against an unknown terror with an immense amount of power. Her head tossed and turned, earsplitting screams still coming from her, a panicked expression on her face. "Tohru! TOHRU!" Kyo called her name over the screams she was making. Hatori opened his bag, that he had grabbed when he ran into the room, and rummaged for a moment, pulling out a syringe and bottle of medicine.

"Yuki" he said, filling the syringe quickly but carefully. The rat held the girl's arm still and Hatori pushed the small needle into a break in the bandages on her arm, pushing down the plunger to push the sedative into the damaged veins. Slowly the kicking and screaming stopped.

Kyo brushed the brown hair out of the girl's pail face and smoothed it gently. "Tohru?" he said again, gently. When the girl didn't answer, Kyo turned on the doctor. "What did you give her?" he asked the dragon furiously. "Why isn't she waking up?"

Hatori put a hand on the cat's shoulder. "I just gave her a sedative, Kyo," He said quietly. "It causes the muscles in her body to relax, it is not a sleeping drug." Hatori now looked at the girl in the bed. "Those wounds are rather deep, and she lost a lot of blood. It may be a while before she awakens." Yuki looked at Hatori, almost accusingly.

"Do something" the rat said bluntly. Shigure came up from behind and hit Yuki upside the head.

"I'm sorry, Haa-san," Shigure said, apologizing for his younger cousin. "What Yuki means is, 'please Hatori, isn't there anything you can do to help our dear flower?'" he glared at the normally polite young man. "Isn't that right Yuki?" Yuki rolled his eyes but sighed under the pressure he felt from the Dog's gaze.

"Sorry Hatori." Yuki said, beginning again. "But isn't there something you can do for Honda-san?" he asked, violet eyes hopeful. Hatori looked at the ground, and shook his head.

"I bandaged up her wounds," the dragon said, slight distress coming through the passive mask he wore. "All we can do is wait for her to wake up. However, due to past events, I don't think she should left alone for the time being. We should take turns sitting beside her bed until she reawakens."

The redhead immediately took the empty seat by Tohru's side. "I will watch first." He said firmly. Hatori nodded and the other three filed out to go get some sleep. When the door closed behind Yuki, Kyo sighed and looked at the girl sleeping motionless in her bed. He looked at one of her exposed arms and gently ran a thin finger down the bandages now covering the word that she had carved there the day before.

"What did that monster do to you?" he asked the unconscious girl, not expecting a reply. "Why would you ever think that you are worthless? Don't you know that you mean more, are worth more, to us or rather to me than anyone else in the world?" He sighed and lay his head down next to her arm, closing his eyes, just listening to her rhythmic breathing.

/\

Meanwhile, downstairs, Hatori and Shigure were having a whispered discussion in the dining room.

"If this continues there won't be any other option." Said Hatori seriously. "She needs around the clock help, something that we cannot give her here."

"We are not taking her to the hospital!" Shigure growled. "She will feel more comfortable waking up in her own room."

"Her own room where she just tried to kill herself twice in two days?" Hatori retorted. "She knows where everything is, Shigure, sewing needles, nail polish remover, and who knows how many other lethal things she could be hiding in there. If Kyo is right, and this happened last week some time, then she has had days to plan, hide, and steal." Shigure shook his head stubbornly. "You think she wouldn't steal a bottle of pills from you to end her own life?" Hatori asked angrily.

"All our medicine is kept in the bathroom, there wouldn't be any in her room," Hatori shook his head in disbelief. Shigure was certainly living up to his name of 'loyal and trusting'. But sometimes too much could have the opposite effect than anyone wants. Especially if Akito is involved.

"We need to check to see if there is anything missing from your medicine stores." Hatori said getting up and going back upstairs. Shigure followed reluctantly. Tohru was the one who kept the first aid kit and medicines stocked. "Yuki" Hatori said, knocking on the boy's door. "Could you help us see if there is anything missing from your medicine stores?" he asked when the rat opened the door, there were tears streaming down his cheeks. Yuki nodded silently and followed the two older men to the bathroom. The rat didn't bother telling them that he would know just as much about what was in the medicine cabinet as either of them would. He was just tired of sitting around, not being able to do anything for the brown haired girl that had captured the hearts of the family Sohma.

As the three were searching, none of them really knowing what to look for, a thought occurred to Yuki, "If she went to see him last week, why is this happening now?" he asked his older cousin. It was a question Hatori had been wondering himself and he didn't really know how to answer the rat.

"It must have been her version of coping. She tried for as long as she could and then finally broke. She just couldn't deal with what had been done to her any more." He looked at Shigure and Yuki, completely forgetting about the search for a moment. "Have you noticed a change in her personality recently?" He asked the rat and dog. They looked at each other for a moment before Yuki lowered his head.

"I haven't noticed." He said, obvious guilt in his voice. "She always seems so happy, she is not the type to tell people her problems. She doesn't want to worry people." Shigure nodded in agreement.

"I have noticed, though," said the dog after a moment of silence, "She hasn't really been eating. She still cooks for us, and sits with us, but she just plays with her food. At least, I noticed it the only two nights this week when Yuki and Kyo weren't running my house…." He ended with a brief attempt at his usual carefree tone. Yuki tried to remember. He and Kyo had gotten into a lot of arguments that week, and the majority had ended up with the cat kicked out of the back door. He wasn't sure why they had fought so much that week, it was an unusually high number of conflicts, even for them. The orange haired boy just seemed to be abnormally touchy as of late. Was Tohru really not eating? He tried to reflect on earlier. It was true that when he grabbed her hand for school that morning it seemed rather thin, but he hadn't really thought much about it. Maybe he should have paid more attention to the girl.

"Tohru just ends up as background noise," he said dully, regretting all the neglect he had shown her, "We don't notice her if she is there, only when she isn't. She is like the sun, she lights up our lives, but after a while, she is just… there, we only notice when the sun goes down and it grows dark." Hatori and Shigure looked at the younger man.

"That was surprisingly poetic, Yuki" Shigure said, a small smile gracing his lips. "Maybe you should become a writer like me." Yuki shot the dog a fierce glare and Shigure wilted under the violet eyes. "Sorry, sorry, just a suggestion!"

The three continued to search until a panicked voice came from Tohru's room. "Hatori!" Kyo all but yelled. The doctor raced into the room across from the bathroom with the dog and rat hot on his heals.

"What is it Kyo?" Hatori asked, trying not to show any sort of panic on his face. "What has happened?"

Kyo had his ear to her chest. "Hatori…" he said in a small voice, looking at the doctor with wide eyes, filled with fear. "She isn't breathing."

**A/N - chapters should be roughly this long from now on. Please R&R!**

**Translations **

**Juunishi - chinese zodiac (Juuni literally means twelve)**

**i think that is it...**


	4. Akito's Promise

**A/N - again, i dont own fruits basket...**

Chapter 4 - Akito's Promise

_Tohru was limping. It took her much longer to get home than she anticipated. Her back and pelvis were throbbing terribly and there was blood running down the back of her legs. She had to put on the sweater she had been carrying because her shirt was soaked with blood in minutes. Her sweater wasn't much better off, but at least it was dark, and the liquid would be harder to see. Akito had forbade her from seeing Hatori before she left. She didn't much want to anyway, but he said that there would be dire consequences for both of them if she asked him to look at her wounds, so she hobbled her way out of the Sohma estate and down the street. She grabbed a few things for dinner from a market around the corner, and walked painfully back to Shigure's house. _

_Thankfully, only Kyo was home at that point in time and he seemed to be on the roof, so no one confronted her about the blood now filling her sneaker. She put the bag of groceries hastily in the fridge and hurried up to her room. She didn't have time to take a shower now, although that is really all that she wanted to do, so instead she grabbed a grubby towel from the washroom and laid it on her floor. She then pealed off the sweater and shirt as carefully as she could and replaced it with a large dark blue tee-shirt. Carefully standing on the towel, she took off her shoes and socks, then her skirt and underwear. She replaced them with a large pair of dark grey sweats and slippers. She didn't put on any new underwear, because she didn't want to ruin those as well. She then gathered all the bloodied clothing in the towel and walked quickly to the Laundry Room. She filled the large sink with hot water, then added a little soap as an afterthought. Once the sink was full enough, she put all the bloodied clothing in there. The shoes, socks, sweater, skirt, shirt, underwear and towel, all together, hoping the blood would wash out. She placed a makeshift lid over the sink and then went downstairs to make dinner. _

_Thankfully they had enough left overs from previous nights that she didn't have to do much cooking. She got the rice cooker going and made a pot of miso soup. Then she made some sweet egg rolls and started heating up the leftovers. She laid out three place settings and poured the miso into the soup bowls, replacing the lids so it wouldn't get cold. She took the dishes of food out of the microwave and placed them on the table, each with a small cover. She then wrote a quick note saying that the rice was ready and in the rice cooker, taped it to the table and dashed upstairs. She grabbed a new pair of underwear from her drawer along with her towel and a new set of clothes and made her way into the bathroom. _

_Once there, she placed her clean clothes in one basket and removed the clothes that she currently wore as tenderly as she could. Then, shivering, she made her way to the shower. Sitting down, she turned on the shower, making sure that it was warm, but not hot. She grabbed the small bucket for shower use, and filled it. She clenched her teeth and then poured it over her shoulder. An unavoidable cry of pain escaped her lips, but the water felt rather soothing to her battered and bleeding skin. She filled the bucket again, adding soap to it this time, and once more poured it down her back. The water felt silky on her damaged skin, but like knives in the open wounds, the soap causing the pain in the whip marks on her back to continue long after the water had finished its journey. She dropped the bucket with limp hands and leaned forward against the cool tile of the shower wall. The thoughts that she had been suppressing since leaving the estate came flooding over her. _

_Flashback_

_He looked down with her with pure loathing in his eyes. "No one ever loved you" he had said, turning her over onto her smarting back and opening her legs to him once more. "Your mother died to get away from you, and Shigure comes to me. Kyo has Kagura, and Yuki has Haru. Why would they need such a pathetic creature like you?" Tears were in her eyes again, but he took her again and again, her battered body unable to resist his forceful actions. He laughed at her, seeming to enjoy her fruitless resistance. "You are nothing," he said slapping her across the cheek again. He laughed, her shame and fear turning him into a sexual beast. He hated her. She was pitiful, how could anyone love such a pitiful beast. He would make sure that no one would ever want to love this disgusting thing. Ever. He wanted to spoil it, take it, destroy it, just like he did Yuki, and Rin. She would learn what the price was for being part of his family. She would learn it well. "No one will ever want you after this, whore" he smirked, not bothering to pull out. She shook her head, tears still coursing down her cheeks. This show of weakness made him even angrier, he needed to mutilate her. He was about to start thrusting again when an idea came to him. He didn't want to physically mutilate her, just destroy her emotionally so she got rid of herself. A maniacal smile came over his lips. He took her by the throat and pushed her up against a nearby wall. "No one would notice if you disappeared, whore," He hissed in her ear. "Leave us alone and stop bothering my family with your stupid, worthless, pathetic presence." He let go and walked towards the exit. "To prove my point, for the time you continue to insist on inflicting your presence on everyone here, once a week you will come here and we shall continue our chat," he smirked, seeing her horrified face. "And if you don't," he said with a chuckle "I may just start calling upon my dear nezumi once more." She shook her head vigorously at the ground. He couldn't go back to Yuki, the rat had just started to get over the torment of having been the patriarch's play toy for so long. She would just have to endure it. For Yuki. "I will show you the price to be part of my family" he said with disgust. He made towards the door. "Leave," he said indifferently to her crumpled form in the corner. "Leave now, and if you are smart, you will never return. Ever" he shut the door behind him. _

_End of flashback_

_Tohru remembered his words, a movie playing over and over in her head. "Worthless" he had said to her. That's what she was to him, worthless. But did she really care about the opinion of a madman? She hadn't thought so. It was what he had said to her later that bothered her the most. When she was crumpled up in a heap, before he had let her go. He started talking about her mother. "Mom" she whispered into the waterfall of the shower. "Its not true, right?" She couldn't tell now if the water running down her face was from the shower or from her own sorrow. "No, you loved me" Tohru said to herself. "Does anyone else love me?" She asked the childish question, hoping for a reassuring response. But there was nothing. Just as she thought. She laughed bitterly to herself. What was she expecting? She was asking a question to her dead mother and expecting a response? How much more pathetic could she get? At the word pathetic her train of thought froze. That's what he had called her a pathetic creature. No one really loved a creature, right? She was the Sohma pet, she thought bitterly. If a pet dies, you mourn for a while, but you get over it easily. _

_Tohru tried her hardest to stop thinking about it. She busied herself with washing the dried blood off of her body, and then washing her hair. She rinsed herself for a good long period of time, trying to make sure there was no more blood coming out of her cuts so that she didn't dirty the bathwater. She rinsed the white tile of any red and turned off the shower. She sank slowly into the bathtub trying not to think of what had happened to her that day. She sank below the surface of the water. Maybe she could drown herself here. In the nice warm bathwater. She lay on the bottom of the bath with her eyes closed. Today had been a living nightmare. She wasn't sure how she would face him the next time they saw each other. The lilac eyes, always so kind, were sure to be full of reproach and disgust. And then there was Uo and Hana. She couldn't tell her two best friends what had happened. They could get seriously hurt if they found out and tried to confront Akito. Like the patriarch said, it was part of being in the family, right? She wasn't special. But now, she would never be special. Who would want her now that she had been fouled in such an awful manner? Her chest hurt terribly. She was losing oxygen and breathing was becoming difficult. Yes, she thought, let me die like this. She started seeing spots, and then she saw nothing. _

/\

Hatori ran to Tohru's side, dropping to his knees and taking her wrist. He couldn't feel a pulse. He checked her throat. There was nothing there either. He pulled the pillows out from under her head and tilted her head back. He used his two strong hands to press hard down on her lower ribs. Hatori then tilted her head back, closed her nose with one hand, and pressed air into Tohru's lungs. The dragon pressed his ear to the girl's chest, listening for a sound, he couldn't hear anything, so he pumped ten more times on her chest, at a specific point on her ribs, and then pinched closed the girl's nose and blew into her mouth once, twice more. He lowered his ear to her mouth again, listening for any sounds of breath, and just as he was about to start pumping once more, ragged coughs escaped the girl's mouth. Hatori leaned back on his heels, sighing in relief, and he could hear three echoing sighs behind him. She was alive. She was ok. For now, at least there was nothing to worry about.

"Yuki," Hatori addressed the silver haired boy as he placed an oxygen mask on the sleeping girl, "Would you continue to watch over her for a few hours?" Yuki nodded and Hatori guided a reluctant Kyo out of the room. Shigure followed his two cousins as they went into the hallway and closed the door. Hatori looked at his watch. "We all need to get some sleep." He stared at Kyo "You have been up for nearly 36 hours," he said, over ruling any objections the cat was going to make. "You will be no help to any of us if you pass out and we have to look after you too." Kyo glared at Hatori for a moment, then nodded and turned around and headed to his room.

"Haa-san, let me make you up a futon" Shigure said, heading downstairs with Hatori on his heels. The dragon shook his head.

"I'm fine," He said, then caved under the glare the dog was giving him. "I will sleep on the couch, Ok?" Shigure sighed, but nodded at the compromise. He went to the linen closet and took out a blanket and pillow and handed them to Hatori, then he went to his own room to lay down.

The next few days passed uneventfully. Tohru continued to sleep, and the four that knew about her condition stayed adamantly by her side. Yuki and Kyo went back to school, deciding mutually not to tell Uo and Hana, because they didn't know what the gangster and witch would do if they told them that their best friend had tried to kill herself three times.

Wednesday started like any other day. Shigure had taken the night shift, so he went to bed after a breakfast that they had ordered in, and Hatori took up his place next to the girl. Yuki and Kyo went off to school, trying to regard it as another day in which Tohru just couldn't join them.

It was about 1:30 when Tohru's hazel eyes fluttered open. "Good morning Tohru" Hatori said, watching the girl try to focus on what was around her. "It is Wednesday April 15th and the time is approximately 1:30." He smiled kindly down at her as she tried to sit up before noticing that she was completely naked. She blushed and drew her covers up to her chin. Hatori pushed her back down to her pillows. "Please relax" he said to her gently. "You have gone through a lot in the past week or so. He took the girl's dressing gown from a hook on her door and held it out to her, turning his back respectively.

"It's been a week?" she asked in a small voice after a moment. Hatori looked around to see Tohru, now clothed looking at him with fear in her eyes.

"What's wrong Tohru?" Hatori asked, concern etched on his features. She shook her head, eyes on the floor. "What did Akito threaten you with?" She shot him a clearly surprised look. There was a hard edge to Hatori's voice that she hadn't heard there before. But she shook her head again. Hatori sighed. "I am going to get you something to eat," he said opening the door, "You look half starved" He turned and left, closing the door behind him.

Tohru buried her face into her pillow. A week, she thought, it's been a week. She didn't leave the family yet, and it has been another week. She shook her head into her pillow, tears soaking through the cotton and making her face damp. She didn't want to go back to him, but he would be expecting her, and if she didn't show up, he would go back to Yuki. She couldn't let him go back to Yuki. It was her responsibility now. She didn't want to leave, so she would have to pay the price. She got up quietly and dressed as quickly as she could, which wasn't really all that quick because she was weak from sleeping so long and lack of food, and her back still hurt. She looked in the mirror, realizing that her back didn't hurt as much as it should. She saw bandages covering her back. She quickly tore them off, not wanting Akito to get the wrong idea. She changed into a larger dark blouse and a knee length skirt. She then climbed onto her bed, shoes in hand and opened the window. She climbed onto the lower roof and sat for a moment, catching her breath, and putting on her shoes. Her room was facing the forest, so she would have to go around the house to start her way into town. She crept along side of the roof, to a place where she knew there were no windows on the lower level. She slithered down the roof so that only her fingertips were keeping her hanging off the side of the roof, and after taking a deep breath, she dropped the last five feet onto the ground. She took to the woods and started making her way to the main estate.

/\

Hatori re-entered the room, carrying a tray with a bowl of freshly made soup, some rice, and some water. Since Tohru hadn't been shopping for the past week, there wasn't really that much fresh food in the house, but the least he could do was make her some chicken broth and warm rice. As a doctor, he wasn't convinced that giving her something besides that would do any good anyway. There was a good chance that she would just throw up anything heavier she tried to eat. He carefully carried the tray into the room, watching the bowl of soup and trying not to spill too much. He set it down on the desk next to the door and turned to Tohru in her bed, and felt a weight settle in his stomach. "Shigure!" he called. He heard the dog run up the stairs as fast as he could.

"What is it Haa-san" he asked the dragon before turning to the bed. "Where is Tohru?" he asked, demeanor changing instantly into one of worry and alarm.

"That is just what I was going to ask" Hatori said, trading a look with his friend. "But I think we may already know the answer to it."

**A/N- ooh! whats next! hehehe. sometimes i feel so evil when i write these FFs... **

**Please R&R!**

**Translations - um... i dont know if i used any Japanese in this chapter... i forget...**

**if you dont know the meaning of something, ask and i will let you know, K?**


	5. The Draw to Harm

**A/N - I do not own Fruits Basket**

Chapter 5 – The Draw to Harm

Only when Tohru was coming to the end of the street did she decide it would be safe to come out of the trees. She knew that Kyo and Yuki wouldn't be home for a few more hours, so being found on the street was highly unlikely. She paused at the gate to the Sohma estate, steeling herself for what was to come. She hoped that it wouldn't be much worse than the last two times she was there, but if he knew that the family and Hatori had found out that she had seen him, she knew she was going to receive a sadistic punishment.

She inhaled a deep breath and walked through the gate. She made her way to the patriarch's many chambers and kneeled by the door and bowed low. "Akito-sama" she said, trying not to let fear into her voice, "I am here for my weekly payment." She quickly swallowed her fear as a familiar shadow came into view behind the rice-paper door. She kept her eyes on the tatami mat below her as she heard the door open slowly. She heard a malicious chuckle; then long fingers grabbed her arm and pulled her up, dragging her into the room and throwing her against the bed within the patriarch's sleeping chamber. He returned the door to its closed position, indicating visually that he was not to be disturbed.

/\

"Shigure, where do you think you are going?" Hatori asked the dog sternly, standing in front of the door as his brown haired cousin started getting his shoes on.

"To get her back," Shigure answered, growling in a canine manner. "Don't try to stop me, Haa-san," He said, moving around the doctor to the door.

"If you accuse Akito of anything, you know that he will just do worse to her next time." Hatori said with a deep sigh. "She will come back, eventually"

Shigure was almost out the door now. "I will not take eventually," he said, angrier than Hatori had seen him in a long time. "She must come back, and now." Hatori pulled the dog back into the house with a feat of strength that surprised the writer, shut the door again and pushed him to the living room. Before Shigure could get back on his feet, Hatori had taken a spare tranquilizer from his pocket and injected his friend. Shigure slumped against Hatori, eyes still hard.

Hatori heaved Shigure onto the couch and kneeled beside the man. "Its for your own good, hers too. You cannot barge in on Akito, doesn't matter the circumstances." Shigure cast Hatori a disgruntled look, but didn't argue. Hatori looked in his bag, he didn't have enough tranquilizer for both Yuki and Kyo, and he was quite sure that both of them would have the same reaction to Tohru's disappearance as Shigure did. He would just have to figure out another way to subdue the hardheaded boys before they got home from school and found her missing. Hatori rested his back against the couch Shigure was resting on and kneaded his head in his hands. He closed his eyes and laid his head against the soft cushion of the couch. It seemed like only minutes later he opened his eyes to the door slamming open and heavy footsteps on the staircase.

"WHERE IS SHE?!" Kyo yelled from Tohru's room, another set of foot falls followed Kyo's and the doctor knew that Yuki had followed the cat into the girl's room. Hatori sighed and got up stiffly from the position where he had fallen asleep by the tranquilized Shigure. He stretched and headed to the kitchen to boil some water for tea. Shigure too was got up with difficulty, still not totally back to normal, and started making his way to the kitchen.

Hatori set four tea cups on the table and waited for the water to boil, meanwhile taking a tea bag from the cabinet and getting it ready to use. The dragon finished making the tea and pouring it into the four mugs before he went upstairs to where the young men were running frantic (well, not Yuki so much, but the cat was practically pulling apart Tohru's room in search of her). The doctor grabbed each of the boys by the collar of their shirt and silently steered them out of the room, down the stairs and into the kitchen. It was only after everyone had sat down, Kyo still rather reluctant to be motionless, that Hatori started to speak.

"It is my belief that Tohru has gone back to Akito." Hatori said without any further preamble.

"WHAT?" The cat and rat said together dumfounded into immobility. Shigure was not saying anything; he just rotated his mug between his hands, staring intently at the murky liquid within. "Why the hell would she go back there after what he did to her?" Kyo asked indignantly.

Hatori decided to return this question with one of his own. "Why did you return?" he asked Yuki. Violet eyes looked at him startled. "Why did you return to Akito, after what he did to you the first time?" Yuki lowered his head partly out of contemplation and partly out of shame, or so Hatori assumed.

Kyo looked confused. "What happened to Yuki?" he asked his elder cousins, not looking at the boy in question. Hatori silenced him with a hand, still looking at the rat.

"Well, he kept me there for most of it…" The pale boy said slowly, "but I returned to his side because he threatened the people I love if I didn't." Hatori nodded in understanding. "I knew he would go through with his threats too." He said, pearly tears welling in the amethyst eyes. Kyo stared at the rat in disbelief.

"You went back?" the hot headed boy said, suddenly very quiet. "On purpose?" Yuki closed his eyes, tears still brimming at his pale lashes as he nodded slowly.

Hatori set his mug down with a loud thump, bringing the other men's attention back to him. "Akito has obviously threatened her with some unbearable consequence if she doesn't return to him for a specific length of time." Three sets of eyes stared hard at the dragon, but he continued. "There is a good chance that her punishment will be worse this time because Akito is sure to have found out that we know what is going on. However…" Hatori wasn't able to start cautioning his cousins before all three were up and running for the door. "….Shit" the dragon muttered to himself, sitting alone at the table, looking at the door, left wide open in the three residents' departure. He had known cautioning them against such a reckless undertaking would be of no help what so ever, but he had at least hoped they would hear it. Hatori rolled his green eyes as he too got up and made his way to the door, donned his shoes and left, closing the door behind him.

The dragon ended up returning to the estate before his three cousins did, because he had taken his car the week before when he had initially come over. He waited by the gate and a few moments later Yuki came into sight with Kyo hot on his heels. It wasn't until both were feet from the gate that Hatori finally saw the dog off in the distance, panting from exertion. "Please think before you do anything stupid." Hatori said calmly as the two boys came into view. He put his hand on Yuki's shoulder, stopping him. "First off, Yuki, are you alright? You know you shouldn't be running long distances with your lungs," Yuki nodded, eyes hard and determined. "Kyo!" Hatori said grabbing the cat's hood as it whipped past, stopping the boy with efficiency.

Kyo let out a growl reminiscent of his true form and stopped Hatori before he could say anymore "Don't you dare, Dragon!" He spat the last word, as if getting a bad taste out of his mouth, while getting up off the ground where he had fallen. "You are a good man Hatori, but get in my way and I will get past you in any way necessary, even if it incapacitates you in the process." He squared up to the doctor, and faced him, orange eyes boring into emerald.

"Just don't say I didn't warn you," Hatori responded, stepping aside and allowing the fierce young man to push past him, Yuki close behind.

Yuki lead the way down the too familiar corridors and to Akito's chambers. They tore the first door open and saw a fleeting glimpse of Tohru, completely naked, with her arms to a rope hanging from a ceiling, lifting her above the ground. The word she had carved into her flesh had been repeated across other parts of her body, and blood was pooling on the floor. She was clearly unconscious, her head hanging forward limply. However, before they could a closer look, they each felt an intense pain at the back of his head and everything went black and the two boys crumpled to the floor, unable to notice Akito behind them holding a brass candlestick. "Stupid" he sneered, before dragging them inside.

**A/N - i know, i know! sorry this one is so short. But the next one will most likely be really long, so it will make up for it. the next one is coming soon. Promise.**

**Btw, a few things about the timeline i am using. I am basing everything off the manga EXCEPT the fact that Akito is actually female. I am going with the Anime version of male. For a while i was thinking of it being ambiguous, but it was too difficult to not use any pronouns at all... anyway, i am well aware that Akito is FEMALE in the manga, but it worked more for my story for him to be male, so i fudged it. Sorry if this caused any confusion.**

**Please Review!**

**Translations**

**um... i dont think i used any Japanese in this one...**

**Wait - the prefix ~sama, is used for people of high status, CEOs etc. Head of the family counts. The Emperor is not addressed as ~sama. dont know why that is relevant, but if you do meet the emperor, dont use sama, tho it is better than san. there is a special prefix for him. ok, that was my end of chapter rant for this one. See you next chapter.**


	6. Akito's Punishment

**A/N - Hey guys, sorry this chapter took so long... but if you read it, maybe you will see why. **

**Be warned, this chapter is very violent... **

**Oh, i dont own Fruits Basket**

Chapter 6 – Akito's Punishment

Akito turned from the door, and stared at the girl he had thrown against the footboard of the bed. He held out a black yukata, "First I want you to change into this." She nodded and took the robe he offered her. She got up and went to another door but he stopped her. "Change here." He said, his smirk becoming a scowl. She hesitated. "NOW!" she quickly removed her shirt and skirt and wrapped the robe around her petite frame. Before she could finish tying it though, Akito came up behind her and unhooked her bra. With another small movement he tugged down her underwear, indicating that her underclothes should be coming off as well. As soon as she had taken them off, Akito grabbed the obi from the shaking girl and threw it aside. He then forced her back to the ground, straddling her prone figure as he grabbed her hands.

He was deftly tying her wrists together when he noticed the neat bandages going up her arms and kneeled, bringing one of her wrists to his own eye level. He used one of his sharp nails to slice cleanly through the bandages. "Worthless" he read with a smirk. "Do you accept my assessment of you, beast?" he asked the form in front of him. Tohru nodded very slowly. Too slowly. Akito grabbed her cheeks, palm under her chin, digging his nails into her flesh. "YES" he said, nodding her head up and down vigorously. "I see my pet doctor has seen to these wounds, so our secret has gotten out, has it?" she tried to shake her head, but her jaw was still clenched firmly in Akito's hand. "No denial?" he asked with a snigger, knowing full well that he was the one who was keeping her from answering. "Well then, it must be true, if so, you must receive punishment." Tohru didn't like the evil gleam in the Patriarch's black eyes as he spoke with relish.

"Lets reinforce the message that you are trying to convey, shall we?" Akito took a knife from the sleeve of his kimono and with a flick, opened the yukata shielding Tohru's nakedness from his eyes. "I don't think you made enough of an impression on these lovely cuts," Akito said, running a cold thin finger down the letters carved into her arm. "Lets try again, ne?" He placed the sharp tip of the blade on her upper thigh and made a vertical mark. Blood welled instantly from the cut. It wasn't too deep, Akito didn't want Tohru to bleed to death before he was done playing with her. He placed the knife on her pale skin once more and made another cut, this time angled. He continued cutting down her thigh until the word WORTHLESS had been completed. He bent down and slowly licked the cut, shivering in pleasure. Tohru felt something hard against her pelvis where he was sitting. "Blood gets me aroused, did you know that?" he asked the girl, turning back to her and opening his own dark red yukata. Tohru shook her head and he laughed, getting off her and standing so that all that Tohru could see of the man was the large part of him that was going to defile her once more. He grabbed her already bruised arm and picked her up completely off the ground, throwing her onto a sturdy table that went to his waist. He fastened her roped hands onto a hook in the wall behind the table, apparently specially designed for that very purpose. Akito softly ran a sharp nail down the girl's thin stomach. She clenched her teeth hard, trying not to call out as the cuts were made. He forced her legs apart with ease and entered her roughly, a pleasured moan escaping his lips. His thin eyes caught Tohru trying to hold her screams and he stopped thrusting. Never leaving his position within her, he traced one long finger over her tense mouth. "Scream, whore, scream" he sneered. "No one will come for you, doesn't matter how much you scream. And since punishment comes later, its no use trying to exhaust yourself in an effort to keep yourself silent." Then he pulled open her mouth and relished in the scream that followed.

He thrust into her hard and fast, intentionally trying to make it as painful as possible for her. When he had tired himself out he pulled out, rested for a few moments against a connecting wall, and straightened his own yukata. He then unhooked the girl from where her hands kept her prone on the desk, and pulled her over to the center of the floor. He took a rope, which had been flung over one of the thick beams of the ceiling, and tied it to the one around her hands. He then pulled the opposite end, lifting Tohru's hands above her head, then lifting her to her feet similarly, and then raising her off the ground. She grunted at the displeasure of the position, but made no other objection to being roughly forced around like a rag doll. Akito ran a finger down the thigh of her unblemished leg. "We still have work to do!" he said picking up his knife again. He stared at it for a moment in contemplation, then wiped the blood from it and stuck it back in his sleeve. He then approached the girl holding out the sharp fingernail of one long pale finger and placing it on her trembling flesh. He smiled up at the girl as he dragged his finger across the leg, tearing open the skin. He concentrated back on the thigh as he continued making his mark. Tohru watched in horror as Akito finished and contemplated his work. Then went back to the first leg and traced over the knife wounds with his nail. He then walked around her, looking. He took his knife and with long swipes cut the yukata from her back. He stared at her bare, perfect back, hidden by hair. Taking a lock of long brown hair he placed his knife to it and in a flash of silver, it was gone. He continued working this way, cutting her locks unevenly, until her shoulders showed. Tohru gasped in pain as she felt a sharp pain on her back like she had on her thighs, He cut the word into her with slow deliberate precision.

He took a step back from his work and looked at the bloodied girl. "You are making me aroused again." He leered at her, looking down at himself, bulging through the yukata. "How about I let you down and we go again?" he asked sardonically. She shook her head as well as she could from its position between her arms "No? Well then," he took his whip from the wall, "we will just have to have a different kind of fun." Taking the slick black handle, Akito raised the whip and snapped the thin leather cord across the Tohru's healing back. A long thin stripe was left where the whip had hit her back, and blood started welling in the wound. Akito aggressively swung at the girl, hitting her with all his might again, and again. A gasp of pain was released from the battered girl at each blow, but no more reactions were made. Quiet footsteps were heard outside the door.

"Akito-sama," said a matronly voice from the other side of the screen, not daring to enter, "Hatori has just returned to the estate."

"Leave," Said the young patriarch in a commanding voice, without showing the slightest acknowledgment to what the woman had said. When the footsteps had died away again Akito circled to the other side of the suspended figure in front of him, so that he could look into her hazel eyes. "Hatori has returned from your house, creature," he said to Tohru with a sneer. "That means that he knows you are here, and since he is only coming now, after you have been here for so very long already, it must mean that his only purpose is to stop someone else from finding you." A devilish grin crossed his lips. "Isn't that comforting?" Asked the young man, "Hatori didn't come to save you, he is trying to keep others from saving you!" a maniacal laugh escaped his lips. "He doesn't love you! No one will ever save you from me!" In one smooth practiced motion Akito flipped his grip on the leather weapon he was holding and hit her across the face with all the strength he could muster. Her head fell limply to her chest, unconscious. Akito grabbed her hair with his free hand and raised it so that he could view her face fully. Using the hand still gripping the whip he made contact with her face over and over, angry that she let out no cry of pain. There were running footsteps outside the door, and Akito managed to make it into the shadows just before the door opened.

/\

Yuki and Kyo awoke to cold water being poured on them. Kyo shook his head, hissing instinctively trying and to escape. It was then that he realized that he was tied by his wrists to the ceiling, like they saw Tohru had been. He looked around and saw Yuki blinking water out of his violet eyes, tied up similarly. Yuki met his eyes and grimaced, nonverbally indicating their predicament. There was a clear statement in his eyes, "Maybe Hatori was right…" Kyo nodded just as silently, however the momentum of his head made him shift the rope he was completely dependent on slightly, making a small creaking sound. Akito stepped forward from a shadow in the corner of the room, holding a small wooden bucket.

"Good," the patriarch leered, "you are awake" there was smirk on his face that Kyo dearly wanted to punch off, but his hands were tied firmly, and after wiggling a bit he found that so were his ankles bound together and to the tatami mats Akito was standing on. Kyo watched as Akito went over to Tohru, now lying across a desk, facing them at an angle so that she was looking straight at her would-be saviors. Akito ran a finger down her bare chest and along her stomach, stopping finally at her opening. He paused for a moment, looking into Yuki and Kyo's eyes in turn, smirking, then he shoved the finger, the nail grown and sharpened into a human claw, hard into the opening producing an ear splitting scream from the helpless girl on the table

"Get your hands off her, you Bastard!" the cat shouted over the screams. Akito frowned, and removed his finger from her, walking over to the two boys and wiping the pearly liquid, tinted red, onto Kyo's shirt.

"You two will now watch me as I continue punishing my worthless slut here." He grabbed Kyo's chin roughly, forcing it open, and shoved in a gag. He made his way over to Yuki and repeated the process, still talking. "We were just about to be done with the punishment planned for today, but you two have just earned your 'dear Tohru'" he said the words mockingly, "an extra special punishment, and you get to watch the whole thing." he smirked before turning back to the girl. He slowly and deliberately tied a rope to each of her ankles, he took the other end of the ropes and after bending her knees, tied one to each leg of the desk she was lying on. Then he took a third rope and tied one to her right knee. Taking the free end of the rope he pulled it behind her neck, and wrapped it once loosely around the front and back out the left side, to attach to her left knee. He grabbed the loop around her neck and pulled it tightly, pulling her knees up with it so far that a gasp of pain was heard from the battered lips of the girl. He smiled with relish first at Tohru then at his audience. "Now if you try to resist, you will end up killing yourself!" He said with a laugh. "Feel the pain if you want to live." He released the loop and her legs dropped. The cord tightened and she choked for a moment before raising her legs herself. "That's too easy" said Akito thoughtfully, after taking a step back to watch. He untied her ankles from the legs of the desk and cut the rope in half. Tugging her legs as far down as he could, he retied the rope. Tohru tried to raise her legs to release the tension around her neck, but the ropes around her ankles were too tight.

Yuki and Kyo were fighting as hard as they could against their bonds and shouting through their gags. Akito turned to the two younger men and smirked at them, loosening his obi and turning toward them, opening his robe as he did so. He was fully erect and ready. He poised himself over her opening and looked back at the struggling boys. "If you have an objection, please, do say something." The patriarch said with a leer. "Or save her, by all means." He grinned maliciously at them. "No? Well then, lets begin" He thrust into her again, as hard as he could, smiling as he watched her try to gasp or scream in pain, but turn steadily more and more blue. Her eyes were open wide as saucers and they were glassy with tears. He forced himself in, continuing to thrust until he saw her eyes fall half closed, becoming unconscious with lack of air.

He rang a small bell and footsteps sounded outside the rice-paper door again. "Fetch Hatori" he said simply, and the footsteps walked away again. Akito looked contemptuously at the three people in the room, then opened the opposite sliding door and exited.

/\

Hatori threw open the paper door hard half a minute after Akito left the room. The doctor surveyed the room but didn't need the agonizing looks Yuki and Kyo were giving him to know that he needed to see to Tohru. His hands flitted around his pockets for a second, trying to locate his pocket knife, before pulling out the small sharp metal blade and slicing cleanly through the thin rope constricting her windpipe. A few more cuts and she was free from where she had been bound. He flicked the knife quickly at the rope holding Yuki's hands, catching him before he fell, and dropping the knife before his feet. The dragon then scooped up the naked, bloody girl and carried her quickly to his clinic. He wanted to help her correctly, and since his clinic was feet away, the extra seconds would hurt… Much. Setting her down on the patient bed he had in the clinic, he set to work performing CPR on her.

/\

After a few moments of struggling with his bonds, Yuki finally freed his hands and removed the cloth from his mouth. "Shut up, stupid cat." He said to Kyo who was staring daggers at the silver haired boy. "I will cut you down in a sec." Yuki rotated his hands a few times, trying to regain feeling in them, and then grabbed Hatori's knife and cut his ankles free. Once he was free completely, he moved to the cat. Yuki cut Kyo's ankles first, giving the orange haired boy a moment to gain feeling back in his feet before swiping the knife horizontally above the bound boy's hands. Kyo fell the foot down to the ground, landing spryly on his feet. He glared at the rat and grabbed the gag from his own mouth with his hands, still loosely bound at the wrists.

"Stupid Rat!" Kyo all but shouted when the gag was out of his mouth. "What was that for?" Yuki smirked as he watched Kyo struggle get up and get his hands untied at the same time. Kyo had finally managed to get free and stand when Yuki was rushing out of the room.

The teens ran down the hall to Hatori's clinic, Kyo hot on Yuki's heels. They pulled open the door to see Hatori still performing CPR on an unconscious Tohru. Shigure was at her bedside also, having kept to the clinic since he had arrived earlier. There were sobs from a corner and Kyo looked over to see Momiji crying into Hatsuharu's arms. He didn't know how they had found out, but considering Haru and Momiji went to school with them and knew that she had been absent all week, it was safe to assume that they had figured out the reason for her disappearance. Especially since Momiji normally spent a lot of his time with the doctor who had likewise been missing for the past week.

Kyo walked over and sat next to the rabbit and cow, putting his head in his hands. He felt a wet pressure on his arms and looked around to see the rabbit resting his head against the cat's shoulder. "Tohru-chan will be ok, wont she?" he asked, looking up with wide eyes, flooded with tears. "Ha'ri will make her better, right?" Kyo put his head back in his hands with a sigh. The question of how such an innocent boy was only a year younger than him had crossed his mind many times. Yet Momiji had faced more hardships than many people. While his burden still wasn't as bad as Kyo's or Yuki's or even Ayame's, having your mother's memory erased because you turn into a baby rabbit in her arms when you are born is still tough to deal with.

Kyo looked up from his hands back to the blond boy once more. "Yeah, peter-rabbit," he said mussing up the golden tresses with one hand, "Hatori will make her all right again."

"Don't give him false hope." Said a cold voice. Yuki hadn't moved from where they initially entered the room, and stood watching Tohru's limp form. "Momiji is old enough to hear the truth. She may die, she may never wake up." Kyo looked at the rat, angry at such a blunt pronouncement, but Hatsuharu stood up from his place beside Momiji and walked over to the rat. He put one hand on the grey haired teen's shoulder and Kyo was shocked to see rivers flowing silently down the porcelain cheeks, the cat's anger seemed to drift away as he watched the silent emotion marring the rat's perfect features. Haru turned Yuki gently to face him and pulled the rat in for a close hug. Yuki didn't object to the comfort the cow was offering him, instead he buried his face in the taller teen's shoulder and seemed to collapse against him. Haru fell to his knees holding Yuki gently as tears continued to flow silently down his face.

"Hatori was right," Kyo muttered into the rabbit's hair. "We made it worse…." Yuki hiccupped softly.

"It's our fault she's dead," The rat finished the thought so quietly that even Haru almost didn't hear it.

**A/N - I know, i know, i am working on the next chapter now, don't hate me! **

**Please review!**

**Translations - **

**Yukata - it is a thin sort of Kimono, almost like a bathrobe, but normally a lot nicer and made of materials like silk or cotton. **

**Obi - It is the wrap for a Kimono or Yukata. goes around the middle of the waist.**


	7. Silent Cries

**A/N - sorry it took so long for me to get this chapter up. Thesis has been driving me crazy!**

**I don't own Furuba**

Chapter 7

"She's not dead!" Yuki and Kyo both looked up from their respective places on the ground. Hatori was sitting back from his patient on the bed, watching her intently. One hand was gripping Tohru's thin wrist. "There is a pulse, but it is very faint." He said finally looking up. "She is still very weak though," Hatori got up and crossed the room, coming to a cabinet and starting to rifle through it. "We need to get some nutrients into her or she still may not last the night." The doctor pulled out an IV and a large plastic pouch of clear liquid. He hung the bag on a pole he pulled from one corner and then carefully inserted the needle into Tohru's limp arm. He hooked a long thin plastic tube from the clear pouch to the IV in the girl's thin arm, waiting until the liquid was coming out of the tube before inserting it into the IV, and then waited for the solution to be running smoothly. He then went back to the cabinet and pulled out three large plastic syringes filled with different clear liquid, and pushed them one by one into the bag of saline via a specially designed opening for that exact purpose.

"I just hooked her up to a saline drip" Hatori explained to the five impatiently waiting cousins around him. "The syringes were filled with different vitamin and nutrient supplements she needs to keep her body working correctly. The saline will keep her hydrated during the period of time where she is unconscious." Hatori sat down on the big chair by his desk wearily. "She is on oxygen and a heart monitor is watching to make sure that her heart is still beating." He put his head in his hands. "It's up to her now," He said sadly, "She needs to make the decision to want to live, and considering recent events, that doesn't seem likely." He said the last part so softly that the only person who could hear him was Shigure, who was nearest the dragon.

A few hours later Hatori sent everyone home to get some sleep. He had bandaged Kyo and Yuki's wrists and ankles, all of which had bad rope-burns, but the doctor hadn't found any other injuries on their bodies. He sent Momiji and Haru to Shigure's for the night, because if he didn't he knew that Momiji would be constantly underfoot. He also knew that Haru was a source of comfort for the rat, so maybe if he was there Yuki may actually get some sleep that night. Kyo seemed to be doing better when he was looking after the rabbit, so Hatori hoped that the cat too would be able to get some sleep if Momiji was there for comfort. Shigure wanted to stay, but Hatori flatly refused. He knew that the dog mostly wanted to stay for the dragon's well-being more than his own, but Hatori would be able to do more if he didn't have the dog to worry about on top of everything else. Once Shigure had left for the shared house Hatori dialed Ayame. Since the snake was one of Shigure's best friends, along with Hatori himself, the dragon figured that if the two sensei's couldn't help each other, the least that could happen is that Aya could help Shigure.

"Moshi, moshi!" Aya answered the phone in his usual flamboyant manner

"Hello, Ayame," Hatori said heavily.

"Tori!" the snake squealed with delight, "What a surprise for you to call me! To what do I owe the pleasure?"

Hatori sucked in a deep breath before responding. "I need you to go see Shigure," He said wearily. "He may need some comfort tonight."

There was nothing from the other side of the phone for a moment. "Why would Gure need someone to comfort him?" He asked, "Did someone break his heart?" The snake joked slightly.

"Yes," was the only answer the dragon gave.

"Tori-san," Ayame said, concern prevalent in his voice now, "What's going on?"

Hatori let out a heavy sigh before answering. "Tohru has been seeing Akito."

"WHAT?" the snake nearly shouted into the phone, "How long? Why? What did he do? Is she alright?"Aya's fast paced state was different than his normal hyperactive energy.

"AYA!" Hatori shouted into the phone, quieting the snake. "I don't know for how long, but no, she is not all right. She was punished harsher this time because Akito knows that Kyo, Yuk, and I all know. He doesn't yet know that Shigure knows. And he can't Aya, you can't let Shigure do anything that will give away his knowledge of Tohru's condition and the cause behind it." Ayame was uncharacteristically quiet while the dragon spoke. "Please, Aya, help Shigure."

There was a long silence. "Of course, Tori," Aya said, "I would do anything for you and Gure, you know that." There was a pause. "How is Yuki doing?" he asked seriously.

"Yuki is taking it hard, but he has Hatsuharu, so he should be ok." Said the doctor with a relieved sigh. "Kyo is taking it equally hard, but he is working hard to be there for Momiji, so together the four of them should be fine. They are all at Shigure's place now. The only one without someone to help them now is Shigure, which is why I called you."

"Of course," the snake repeated in a monotone. "Tori," His voice was suddenly concerned again, "Have you slept at all recently? You sound exhausted."

A small smile graced Hatori's serious face momentarily. "I'm fine, Aya, I was watching Tohru last night, but I managed to take a nap this afternoon before everything happened, so I should be fine."

Ayame heard the phone disconnecting, and could have sworn he heard Hatori say "Thank you, Ayame," very quietly before he hung up.

/\

Ayame didn't bother knocking when he arrived at Shigure's house when he arrived at the large house a half hour later, after locking up the store and writing a note for Mine-san. Instead he just let himself in and made his way to the small study where he knew his cousin would be. Sure enough, Shigure sat at his desk, simply staring at the white paper on the computer screen in front of him. His hands were poised over the keys, as if to write something, and his hair was standing on end, like he had run his fingers through it in frustration. Just like most traditional homes, Shigure's desk was only a foot or so off the ground, the perfect height for one who is sitting on a pillow on the tatami to use. Shigure's back was hunched over as he stared at his computer screen, obviously not seeing it at all. The dog didn't even look up when Ayame very quietly opened the door, and then closed it again. The snake slithered up behind his friend and quietly wrapped his slender arms around the man's chest from behind. Shigure stiffened slightly on the contact, but recognizing the touch he slumped, relaxing into the embrace. His head fell back onto the snake's shoulder and he closed his eyes, tears seeping out from under the closed lids. "Why are you here, Aya?" the dog asked in a croaky voice, as if he hadn't used it in quite some time.

"Tori asked me to check in on you and see if you are all right" the snake said solemnly. There was silence and then "He told me about Tohru," Shigure seemed slightly taken aback by this, he opened his eyes and stared into the amber ones looking down into his. Shigure turned on his pillow so that he could place his forehead on the shoulder he had been resting the back of his head on. "I'm sorry, Gure, but I am sure she will be better in no time!" Ayame said, a false cheeriness to his voice.

Aya could feel Shigure shake his head on the snake's shoulder, tears were wetting the designer's chinese-style tunic, but he didn't care. "Haa-san, obviously didn't tell you the whole story." Ayame was silent, waiting for his cousin to continue. "Tohru tried to kill herself-" The snake gasped in shock, interrupting Shigure, "-three times since last week. This morning when she woke up, she snuck out to see Akito." Ayame was speechless.

"What could have caused her to behave so irrationally?" the snake stuttered finally. Shigure shrugged his shoulders. Ayame looked at his friend's form, slumped against his own. His cousin looked exhausted. It was clear that whatever happened this week had taken a serious toll on the dog. Aya looked around for the futon, and located it, folded neatly beneath a pile of books and sheets of paper. Aya stood up, Shigure looking up surprised at the snake's sudden movement, and swept his hands like a snow-plow; clearing a place on the floor for the futon, then he shoved everything off the top of the folded bed and lay it out. He placed the comforter on top of the futon, along with the pillow, and then stood up once more. He went over to the dog, who was still sitting motionless in the place that Aya had left him, and took both of the writer's arms. He gently pulled Shigure to his feet and placed his arms protectively around the distraught dog once more. The snake led Shigure to the newly made bed and sat down slowly, bringing his cousin with him. Aya moved long his silver from his pale face and lay down, his arms still around the dog. Shigure fell limply down on the soft futon and snuggled into Ayame for warmth. Aya was surprised, because, as a reptile, he had much less body heat than most other people, but he accepted the fact that Shigure didn't need the warmth so much as the presence and covered them both with the blanket. Ayame stroked the silky brown hair pressed so closely to his chest until he felt the shuttering breathing stop and be replaced with the heavy breathing of sleep. Once he felt 'Gure fall asleep, he nestled his face into the dark hair and fell asleep himself.

/\

Hatori lost track of time at some point during the night. He made sure to monitor the flow of nutrition into his patient's body and check on the quality of her breathing every half hour or so. It felt like no time before the sun was rising and he could hear the bustling movements of the servants outside his door. The sun was shining brightly outside when there came a knock on the door connecting the clinic to the main house. He looked first at Tohru, then at the clock. The girl seemed to be breathing a little easier now, and Hatori let out a sigh of relief as he stood to open the door for whoever was calling so early. As he reached the door he looked at the clock, it read 6:13 AM. Hatori slid open the door to find Akito's maid standing before him.

"Akito-sama, would like a word," the matronly woman said expressionlessly.

"Can it wait?" Hatori asked looking back at the occupied bed, which was currently concealed by a curtain.

"No." Said the woman snappishly. "Now." Then she turned on her heel and led him down the hallway. Hatori let out another sigh and followed. The woman stopped at the same room Hatori had visited the night before to pick up Tohru, and knocked. "Hatori to see you, Akito-sama" She said through the thin door.

Akito slid the door open with a contemptuous leer. He nodded curtly at the maid without looking at her and stood aside for Hatori to enter the room. "What has the worthless slut told you?" Akito asked once the door was closed. Even though the walls were thin, a closed door was a sign for the household; never enter, no matter what sounds are coming from within.

Hatori stood straight and tall, not looking at the younger man, "Nothing, Akito-sama." He said flatly.

"LIAR!" Akito screamed spinning on his heal and hitting the doctor hard across the face. "The bitch told you everything, didn't she? My request, our agreement, my threat, DIDN'T SHE!"

"I know of know agreement Akito-sama" said the dragon, expression not changing.

Akito calmed slightly and circled the doctor. "Really?" he asked quietly. "She didn't tell you about our arrangement? She didn't tell you what I have been doing to her for nearly a month?" he chuckled menacingly. "I find that hard to believe, after all, where have you been for the past week?"

Hatori wouldn't rise to the bait. Even if it was true that what Akito was telling him was making him curious. "She hasn't been awake the entire time I have been there." Hatori said coolly "You see, Akito-sama, Tohru tried to commit suicide last week," the look on Akito's face didn't change, "In three different ways."

Akito chuckled, "well, the ways I have of enforcing my message are highly reliable." He smirked. "So is our family whore alive?" the patriarch asked with a leer.

The doctor made sure his face was frozen. He knew Akito was waiting for his to rise, and he wouldn't. "Yes." He said simply.

Akito stopped circling somewhere out of Hatori's line of sight. "She is not awake yet, correct?" The doctor shook his head a fraction. "As soon as she awakens, send her to me." Hatori stiffened. Akito ran one long finger down the doctor's neck, making him shiver. "Yes, Dragon," Akito said with a sneer, "You heard right, you WILL send her to me, because if I found out she is awake for anything longer than 15 minutes before she is brought to me, her punishment will be worse, by far, than what I have planned." He placed a thin finger on Hatori's right shoulder and pushed, turning the doctor around to face him. "And you don't want that, do you?" Akito let out a high-pitched wicked laugh and turned, retreating into one of the interior rooms in his chambers. Hatori, taking this as a cue to leave, turned and opened the thin door behind him. He managed to get all the way back to his clinic and close the door before collapsing against it. The strain of keeping his emotions at bay in front of Akito was always taxing, but for some reason, it was even more so when the patriarch was talking about Tohru. He felt like he did when he was a teenager and had to give Yuki over to the already-sadistic young patriarch. The nauseating feeling of wanting to help, but not knowing what to do over took him and he ran to the toilet, barely making it in time.

After washing his mouth out thoroughly, he went back into the clinic proper and sat down in his chair, looking at the girl in the bed. He sincerely hoped that she wouldn't wake up in the next few days. Her body needed the rest and he had no idea what sadistic things Akito had planned for her.

/\

He didn't know how much time had passed before someone was shaking him awake. He opened his emerald eyes to see amber ones staring back at him. "Tori-san, you look awful!" Ayame said, looking closely at his friend. Hatori removed the hand from the arm of the chair, raising his head from where it had been resting on the same hand. He stretched and looked around. Kyo, Yuki, Shigure, Momiji, Haru and Ayame, were all standing around the clinic. The four younger men had already taken spots around the bed, Shigure was standing next to Ayame, studying the doctor.

"He's right, Hatori." Shigure said seriously. "Did you sleep last night?" Hatori didn't answer. Shigure and Ayame looked at each other, and then in unison each took one of the doctor's arms and pulled him to his feet, dragging him in the direction of the bedroom. Hatori tried to protest, but Aya pushed the dragon onto the bed and promptly sat on him to keep the doctor from moving. "You will sleep!" Shigure said, shaking a finger at his friend. Hatori stopped struggling and the dog pulled Ayame off the doctor. They pulled the comforter over him and smirked at each other as sleep seemed to immediately take the overtaxed doctor.

"Wake me… if…" Hatori said, trying to fight of the sleep now engulfing him. "or…wakes…u-"

Aya placed a pale hand over the doctor's mouth, quieting him. "Yes, Tori," He said, with a small smile, "We will wake you if anything happens at all. Including if Tohru wakes up." Relief seemed to flood through the emerald eyes and within seconds he was asleep.

/\

Tohru had no sense of time when she awoke in the clinic. "She's awake!" said a familiar voice in her ear.

"Shut up rabbit!" said another familiar voice, then there was a thump and a wail.

"Haa'ri!" said the first voice, "Kyo is being mean to me!"

Then bright green eyes were looking into her greenish blue ones. She saw a flash of light in each eye, almost blinding her. "Tohru," said a gentle voice next to her, "Can you hear me?" She tried to nod; it hurt. She tried to say something, but nothing would come out. She tried again. Why couldn't she speak? "Shh," Hatori said gently, wiping a tear from her eye. "It may take some time for your speech to return. You were strangled pretty badly." She raised one hand to her throat. Her hand felt heavy, and when she touched her throat it felt raw. "Everyone please leave, I need to do a full work up on Tohru-kun" said the doctor. Tohru could just barely see Hatori ushering Momiji, Shigure, Kyo, Hatsuharu, Yuki, and Ayame out the back door. "Go home and return tomorrow." She could hear the doctor tell them. The door closed, there were footsteps, and then large gentle hands were helping Tohru sit up. "Can you walk?" He asked her, removing the IV from her forearm, and supporting her elbow as he helped her put her feet on the floor. He helped her up and they walked to a chair not too far away where he sat her back down again. He went into the kitchen and took the remains from lunch and brought them to the girl. "I know you haven't been eating, so I am going to watch you until you eat all of that." He put a spoon in front of her and sat down in a chair close by, watching the girl.

Tohru didn't understand why Hatori had sent everyone away if he wasn't going to examine her. They could have been around if all he wanted to do was get her to eat, couldn't they. Hatori seemed to understand her unspoken question. "After you eat, you are going to Akito." He said gently. He placed a hand reassuringly on one of hers, seeing the panic in her eyes. "He called me to him two days ago, requesting that you be brought before him as soon as you woke up." Hatori explained. Tohru understood why he had sent everyone away now. Tohru tried to eat, but something wouldn't let her. "Tohru, what is the agreement you have with Akito?" The question was gentle, and unaccusatory, however Tohru pulled away from the doctor as suddenly as if he had burned her with a white-hot poker. She looked at him with terror in her eyes. She tried to get up, but stumbled, still weak, and nearly fell over, but Hatori caught her in time. She opened her mouth, trying to cry out, but nothing would come out. "I guess if you won't eat, we will see Akito." Hatori said heavily. He walked into the hallway of the main house, supporting Tohru. They slowly walked down the hall until they came to the familiar doorway. Tohru looked up at Hatori again, eyes pleading, but Hatori knocked. The door slid open immediately and a hand pulled Tohru into the room. Hatori gave the girl an apologetic look before the door was slammed in his face.

"Welcome back whore." Hatori heard Akito say with a sneer. "Don't have anything to say? Or is it that you cant say anything?" There was a sadistic laugh. "I will drag the screams from your throat." He said. There was a whiplash, and another, and a third, before finally at the fourth there was an earsplitting scream. Hatori turned and walked quickly back to his clinic, trying to block out the screams coming from the girl he had willingly handed over to the family's sadistic patriarch.

**A/N - not quite as much of a cliffie as i usually give you guys, appreciate it, cuz i may not be able to put anything up for a while. **

**Please review, cuz it makes me happy, and i am more likely to update if you do. **

**Translations -**

**Moshi moshi - what you say when you answer the phone in Japan.**


	8. Candles

**A/N- This one is really gruesome, so just warning you right now. PLEASE DO NOT READ IF YOU ARE SQUEAMISH - there is a good chance that i will write an alternate chapter for this one later. but right now, this is what i have. Sorry it took so long. **

**Disclaimer - i do not own Fruits Basket.**

Chapter 8

When Hatori brought her back there was only one thing on his mind. She needed to suffer. But not only that, he wanted to humiliate the upright dragon as much as he could, and using other people seemed to be the best way to do that. Other people like the slut before him.

After a proper whipping, he had tied her up. She was naked of course because whores didn't need clothes. He would check on her a few times a day, bringing food because while she had to suffer, he couldn't let her die. However, every time he came in and sat in front of her, offering the food he knew she couldn't take for herself, her listlessness infuriated him and made his reason go out the window. After three days it was too much. He sat down in front of her, offering her a rice ball, but seeing her blank eyes stare at it uncomprehendingly angered him so much he forgot his whole reason for being there in the first place.

He threw the onigiri out the paper door that lead to his private courtyard, and stood before the bound girl. Her head seemed to be the perfect height for what he needed her to do. He unwrapped his obi and let his yukata fall open. He took one long nailed hand and grabbed her jaw, forcing it open. He shoved himself as hard as he could into her mouth and as far as he could down her throat. She gaged on his thickness, which seemed to only make him bigger. He slapped her hard with his free hand laughing, "Take it slut!" he said through his laughs. His hips started moving on their own, thrusting deeper and deeper down the girl's throat, each thrust hitting her head against the wall. Finally he felt a small relief and pulled out scowling as the girl tried to spit out the substance that had come from him. With the hand that was still clutching her jaw he now forced it shut. Her eyes turned wide as she tried to breath through her closed mouth and the liquid occupying her mouth. Finally after a few minutes of flailing, she swallowed, he let go, and she gasped for breath. He was hard again. He was planning on leaving her and coming back later, but… he looked towards the corner of the room. He had plenty of rope already.

He went to the corner and picked up the rope. It was fiberglass, perfect. Strong, light, itchy, and leaves awful splinters. He took up the gardening gloves that lay next to them and went back to the girl. He looked at her hands, already tied with fiberglass rope. He could see blood seeping from the cuts made in her flesh from the rope. He grinned and hardened even more. He discarded his yukata and kneeled in front of the skeletal girl. He had always wanted to try it on a girl. Legs, lets start with the legs. He took one of her legs out from under her, making her tilt precariously. He was sure that if she hadn't been tied so firmly by her hands, she would have fallen over. He smirked and looked down at himself. Crap, that turned him on even more, if he didn't work fast he would release his fluids all over her instead of inside her. Before he started he had to make sure he had everything he needed. He took the two fleshy vibrators from the box at the bottom of the closet, and two light bulbs from the box at the top of the closet. He stored the dead light bulbs in here just for this purpose. Finally, he took four long, thick, candles and placed them next to everything else, along with a matchbook. He smirked and started to ooze, thinking about what he was about to do to the girl. Well, a quick one before the ropes wouldn't hurt. He turned her so that her back was to him, and forced her shoulders down as far as they could go. He spread her legs and placed himself at the base of her smaller entrance. He could use lotion, but this was her first time using this entrance, he wanted it to hurt. He thrust deep inside her, and as he did he heard a gasp and small moan of pain from close to the floor. He pulled out and she seemed to relax. Smirking he shoved into her harder, deeper. Another cry of pain seemed to only make him larger. He started to move, thrusting in and out, each time going deeper inside the girl and causing a small cry of pain to escape the dry, parched lips. Finally he felt the small release and pulled out, watching the milky substance overflow from the hole with pleasure.

Now he could finish tying her up. Forcefully turning her back over he grabbed her legs and powerfully bent them, using rope to hold them together. Then he attached the legs together from behind, keeping them as far open as they could, making her expose herself fully to him. He released the bonds on her hands and she fell back against the wall. He grabbed her by the hair and picked her up, grabbing the two vibrators as he went, turning them on and shoving each of the two into a different hole. The pain and pleasure showed itself clearly on the girl's skeletal face. He took up another piece of rope and tied it tightly around and around her chest, going through her legs twice, one on each leg, forcing the still limp cheeks apart. He used the rope to press her breasts close to her body, and watched her reaction as the aroused nipples were rubbed up against the fiberglass rope. Finally, he tied the upper arms together behind her back, with a quick trip loosely her throat, so tightly her arms threatened to dislocate. Once the whore was finally fully tied up, Akito decided that he could do with her as he pleased. He took out the vibrators, and instead inserted one of the light bulbs into her main hole. He took one of the vibrators and shoved it hard against the bulb until he heard it shatter. Then, carefully, he removed the metal base of the bulb, and placed it at the smaller opening. Taking the vibrator again, he rammed it as hard as he could into the smaller hole, forcing the metal ridged with glass as far as he could. He looked at the girl's face. Her eyes were closed and face slack, it looked as though she had passed out. He smirked. That just meant that she was in for a treat when she woke up. He inserted the next bulb into the larger hole and repeated the process, jamming in the hard vibrator until it broke and then removing the metal, then forcing the metal bit into the second hole, also with the vibrator. Not only would this hurt her but it would humiliate Hatori to no end. He laughed maliciously. There was just one thing left to do; taking one of the thick candles he shoved it as deep as he could into each of the glass filled holes, forcing the glass deeper into her body. Then he placed the third on her breastbone, balancing it by lighting the fourth candle and dripping wax onto the skin where he was placing it. He then roughly opened the filthy mouth and placed the lit candle in it. He struck a match and lit the other three candles quickly, not bothering to blow the match out, instead simply dropping it upon her bare stomach. Then he stood, donned his yukata, wrapped his obi around his waist, and left the room.

The candles didn't burn quickly, so he would to amuse himself for quite a while before coming to check on her. He wished Shigure would come and visit him, the dog was always a source of entertainment for the patriarch. Akito sat down in the second bedroom and sighed. None of his juniishi loved him. Even Kureno didn't love him, not anymore, now that he found that Yankee. It was all her fault, that whore's. If she hadn't come into their life, the curse wouldn't be breaking down and Kureno and Shigure would still be his. He glowered as he thought of his rooster with that yankee. Not only that, but Shigure, his dog, out playing with his dragon and that stupid snake, without him, with her. The snake didn't matter, but the dragon… he needed to punish the dragon. He would punish him by showing him how helpless he was against his wrath. He would be the only one who knew the true extent of what Akito did to her. The patriarch new he wouldn't dare share anything THIS distressing with the rest of the simpletons who were now no doubt staying at the dog's house, or rather in the doghouse.

He got up to check on the girl. He opened the door and saw the two lower candles had burned down so that they had disappeared inside her, but when he bent down he scowled. The flames had gone out. He searched inside the closet and found two tubes full of tennis balls. The outer diameter was roughly the same size as the candles. He cut off the bottoms of the tubes, threw the balls away, and removed the tops. Then he carefully maneuvered each so that the tube was around the candle and shoved it in as far as it would go. Thankfully they were long enough to keep the holes open around them. Then he took another match and lit it. His fingers weren't able to reach far enough down, so he threw it down the tube, carefully angling it so that the flame would touch on the wick for a moment. It wasn't long enough. he looked in the closet again. He found lighter fluid that must have been thirty years old, from the previous patriarch who had lived in these rooms. He squirted a steady stream down the tube and onto the wick. Then he tried again. This time when the light hit the wick coated with lighter fluid it lit at once. Then it fell and lit everywhere the fluid had been squirted. He watched with amusement as the clear plastic tube was alight with flame for a moment before burning out. It served the whore right. Now she wouldn't be able to use that whole again. He repeated the process on the other candle. Held the half filled bottle of lighter fluid in his hand and an idea came to him. He decided that he wanted to have some fun with it. He traced the letters she had carved into her skin on her arms, then he retraced them on her stomach, adding a border of ironic frilliness. He drew hearts on her raised legs and drew a line from them to her stomach, not caring about touching the rope. Then he added a swirly line from the words on her arms to her stomach as well. He dripped pools of the liquid into recesses of her body, letting it flow onto the tatami without a second thought. Then after a brief reflection he shoved a sheet of steel underneath her back, careful not to mess up his work. The candles would take care of her face and neck, so he didn't bother with them. He looked down at his work and smirked, bending down to pick up a match and light it. He stood back up and dropped the match onto one of the thin streams of liquid, igniting it at once. He watched in childlike wonder as the flames crept along her body but immediately went out, leaving a light burn where the fire had touched, but nothing permanent. Then he noticed that the rope was shouldering. It hadn't burned completely, but it was still on fire. Not only that, the inner fire of the rope was spreading. At the places that the fire had gotten the hottest he saw the rope melting into a ribbon of blue plastic. He stood up once more and left the room, leaving the fires to finish their work.

It wasn't until the next morning that Akito finally checked up on the girl again. The plastic that was once ropes was melted into her skin, there was candle wax running over her throat causing welts. The tubes he had used the night before had melted and shriveled and wax was oozing from between her legs. Akito looked at her face. The candle he had stuck in her mouth was completely melted. It was running over her nose and down her cheeks. Her mouth was still open and he could see wax in her throat. He wondered if she was dead. Not that he cared much anymore, now that he had his fun with her. He smirked again and called for the maid to fetch Hatori. He hid in the closet to watch Hatori's reaction.

/\

Hatori was very worried about Tohru when she didn't return from her meeting with Akito. His next three days passed without much incident. He decided it would be better for his worried cousins to stay as far away from the estate as possible, so no one had returned from Shigure's house for a few days. Finally at dawn on the fourth day he heard a knock on the clinic door. "Come in," Hatori said, absently. A matronly woman entered the sparse room

"Akito-sama needs you, right away." She said with a bow before leaving the way she had come. Hatori got to his feet quickly and hurried to Akito's chambers. This was how Akito had released Tohru to him previously, half dead. He pushed open the first door to find the room empty. "Akito?" he called cautiously. "Tohru?" The dragon hurried to the next room. It was also empty. He looked around, searching each corner for signs of torture. Nothing.

Finally Hatori came to the third room. He pulled open the door and stood frozen in shock. She was there, on the floor naked and unconscious. Tohru was tied up in a way that made Hatori think of sexual bondage gone wrong, especially since the rope had fused to her skin. There were two shriveled clear tubes penetrating her from between her legs. Candle wax was covering her everywhere. Hatori hurried to her, barely noting the crunching beneath his feet that could have only been glass. He took out his knife and tried to cut her free, but the fused bonds refused to give way. "Shit." He muttered, running one hand through his dark hair. He took off his coat and covered her, then checked her vitals. He had to peal away a good deal of candle wax from her throat before he could reach a place where he could accurately check her heartbeat. It was very faint, and highly labored, but it was there. He checked her breathing. Wax was covering her nostrils, which he quickly removed. He tried to remove the candle from her throat, but it seemed to be in too deep. He placed a hand in front of her nose, and once he was confident she was breathing he picked her up easily, slightly worried about how easy it was to feel her bones, and carried her quickly to his clinic.

He set her upon the examination table, covered her with a blanket, and started the task of examining the unconscious girl. He was sincerely glad that she was unconscious at this moment. He pushed that thought to the back of his mind. He needed to access the situation and figure out what his priorities were. First, get her throat clear and make her able to breath again. He put on his magnifying glasses and took a pair of forceps. He used the tool to move around the wax seeing how bad it was. He pulled out all the small pieces he could. After finding no clear way of removing it, he took two fingers and felt the exterior of her throat, trying to figure out where it stopped. He felt the end of the hard wax at the collarbone. Taking a scalpel he carefully created an opening, then took the waiting tube from the same tray, and fed it cautiously into her lungs. He placed a bag over the opening to the tube and started squeezing it with one hand, while the other tidied up the wound he had made. However, he wouldn't be able to do this and help her at the same time. He needed a second pair of hands.

Flipping open his cell phone he called the only person he knew in the Sohma house that didn't have any connection with Tohru; Kanna. She was also a doctor, which helped. He would have to place aside his feeling of guilt when he saw her, because she didn't remember anything. She answered groggily, but agreed to come over right away. Kanna opened the clinic door a few minutes later, looking slightly disheveled, but great, as always, and Hatori had to mentally slap himself so that he could return to his patient. As soon as Kanna saw the form of the brutally tortured Tohru, she silently went to Hatori and took the breathing pump from him. He took a chair by the thing he considered secondly important, and started examining the melted candles between her legs.

**A/N - Hehe, yeah... So.. that happened, and now Kanna is in the story! yay Kanna! anyway sorry about that**

**Please Review!**

**Translations**

**Junnishi - The Chinese Zodiac - or rather, the cursed part of the sohma family... **

**Yukata - a thin japanese robe**

**and... um... let me know if there are any others... i dont remember**


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